"develop thick skin, but always keep a tender heart." -ruth graham bell
this past weekend was filled with amazing experiences, from cooking and supercross to devotions and ninja wars. it all began in st. louis, where we traveled to the mercy ministries house after arriving that friday.
just a quick background, "since 1983, Mercy Ministries of America has provided hope and healing to generations of desperate young women who are seeking freedom from life-controlling issues." i had the opportunity to visit the women in the st. louis house that day, along with pam, tara and kim. we helped cooked dinner that night for 40 people - one of my favorite meals, chicken francaise!
the dinner turned out to be a huge success! everyone said the chicken was delicious, though i was partial to the awesome asparagus that one of the girls cooked. she was an asparagus-cooking expert!
now this picture requires a little background story. pam got 2 cakes made for the girls and we actually brought them on the plane from raleigh as carry-ons. these things were like our babies the entire day - we didn't let them out of our site for a second! and let me tell you, it was definitely worth it because these cakes were DE-licious! thanks francis!
after dessert and a tour of the house, we all gathered downstairs for a came of ninjas! i had never played this game before, but it got really intense really quickly.
here is a picture of the whole group - what an awesome night!
ninjas!
the next morning, it was time for supercross! i hung out with ricky at the rig while he got ready for his practices.
the whole winters fam!
that afternoon, we all gathered in the arena for ricky's qualifying practices.
here are a few pictures from the day:
that night, we all met up in the suite with all of the mercy girls! it was so much fun watching the races with them because they were all so excited to cheer on different racers!
this is my friend abigail - she loves ryan villopoto, and while i am not his biggest fan, i enjoyed talking supercross with her. and she got his autograph on her shirt!
all these people fit in one suite! it was a great night!
the next day, pam, tara, kim and i got on a plane to nashville, TN. as soon as we got there, we went to lunch at monell's (a family-style southern, home-cookin, all the fixins, etc type restaurant). we made lots of friends and ate our bodies' weight in carbohydrates. it was awesome. then we went to visit the parthenon - who knew they had one of those in nashville?!?
it was a lifesize replica! if you look really closely in this picture, you can see teeny little kim on the front steps!
on monday morning, we went to the nashville mercy headquarters. while we were there, we got a tour of the entire office and house and met with the staff, girls and Nancy Alcorn! i had never met her in person and she was absolutely wonderful, not to mention an amazing speaker and spiritual warrior.
i took a picture of this piece of art in the kitchen of their house because i thought it was so beautiful and inspirational. you probably can't see the words, but its filled with negative comments the girls have heard in their lives that they surrendered to the cross.
here is nancy alcorn introducing pam before she spoke to the group.
tara also got up to speak - it was so great to hear from all three of them!
what an amazing weekend! i feel so thankful and blessed to have had the opportunity to learn about and get an insider's view into such a life-changing ministry.
for more information on mercy ministries,
check out their website at: http://www.mercyministries.org/
and their blog: http://www.mercyministriesnews.com/2011/04/mercy-ministries-hero-pam-winters.html
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